The passing of MacAddict
I bought the last issue of MacAddict this weekend for old time’s sake and because the cover story is about free Mac stuff, which of course is grist for the mill here at thriftmac.
I can still remember buying the first-ever issue of MacAddict. It was in the late ‘90s when Apple was going through hard times. The company was referred to as “beleaguered” so often that I wondered if Apple would change its name to Beleaguered Apple.
In the midst of all this doom and gloom, MacAddict appeared on the newsstands. That a new magazine devoted to the Mac would show up at all seemed an audacious move. But even better was the big bold headline: “Why the future of the Mac is bright.” (Sorry if I have it slightly wrong.)
It went against all conventional wisdom. And when I cracked the pages open, I found not only positive predictions but plenty of spunk and attitude. It seemed a defiant call to arms, a rallying cry for Mac users determined to see their platform survive and thrive.
So refreshing was this approach that for years I bought every single issue, and subscribed off and on. After awhile, though, I came to realize that spunk and attitude were a poor substitute for actual content, and started to lose interest.
Even so, I couldn’t resist buying the last issue just to see how MacAddict had evolved over the past few years, and to get a preview of its successor, Mac|Life. If nothing else, I thought the article on free stuff would be good research for thriftmac.
Reading the article, though, brought back memories of why I lost interest in MacAddict in the first place. It lists a total of 13 freeware apps, two GarageBand plug-ins, suggestions for support, a couple of voice calling options, three Google services, and some ways to get free music.
The programs were hardly a surprising sampling of Mac freeware. For example, have you ever heard of Firefox? Thought so.
Precious little space is devoted to describing the programs, and much of that is taken up with smart-aleck remarks.
The only program I found that wasn’t already in the thriftmac collection was Chicken of the VNC—and that was more of an oversight than anything else. It’s in there now.
I don’t mean to be hard on MacAddict. I’m grateful for what the magazine has done to promote Macs through thick and thin. In a sense, I’m simply agreeing with editor Rik Myslewski.
“When MacAddict was born 125 issues ago, we Mac addicts were a scrappy bunch, fighting against the seemingly unstoppable peecee juggernaut. ... But a funny thing happened in the Mac-versus-PC wars. We won.”
It’s hard to say, judging from the preview, whether Mac|Life will be a worthy successor. But I’m pretty sure I’ll buy at least one issue. Just to give it a chance.
Posted Saturday, December 23, 2006 in Opinion
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